Opinion: If Addiction Is a Disease, Why Is Relapsing a Crime?

When Julie Eldred tested positive for fentanyl in 2016, 11 days into her probation for a larceny charge, she was sent to jail. Such outcomes are typical in the American criminal justice system, even though, as Ms. Eldred’s lawyer has argued, ordering a drug addict to abstain from drug use is tantamount to mandating a medical outcome — because addiction is a brain disease, and relapsing is a symptom of it.

Ms. Eldred’s case, now before the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, has the potential to usher in a welcome change to drug control policies across the country. The case challenges the practice of requiring people with substance use disorders to remain drug-free as a condition of probation for drug-related offenses, and of sending offenders to jail when they relapse.

The prosecution’s counterargument — that the disease model of addiction is far from settled science — is weak. The National Institute on Drug Abuse, the American Medical Association and the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, which is the final authority on psychiatric conditions that qualify for insurance reimbursement, all define addiction as a chronic, relapsing brain disorder that, like diabetes and heart disease, is caused by a combination of behavioral, environmental and biological forces.

The prosecution’s argument is also somewhat beside the point, because it is clear that relapses are common in people struggling to overcome addiction, whether one considers it a disease or not; specialists say that most opioid addicts relapse an average of five to six times before achieving full sobriety.